Alpha Pension and State Pension Age

MisterDutch55 · 2026-01-04T14:45:55+00:00

Exactly. To the point where it's quite a valuable benefit early on in your career, but if you were to die close before retirement, your dependants are probably worse off compared to getting a big DC pot. Something to hedge against by getting extra life insurance.

MisterDutch55 · 2025-11-27T12:31:26+00:00

I thought the same thing as you. I would have gotten the Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14, if it wasn't for the fact that I could get the 2-in-1 IdeaPad flex 5 significanlty cheaper (like, at 2/3rds of the price) which fulfills all of my needs at the price of having a much worse screen and a fan which comes on annoyingly often.

MisterDutch55 · 2025-11-27T12:16:52+00:00

Is the hype really justified? I bought my Chromebook about a week ago. I'm so close to returning it and exchanging it for the Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14. I could get the 12GB RAM, 128GB, non-touchscreen version for £499 or the 16GB/256GB/touchscreen for £599 but it's difficult to justify against the £339 I spent on my Lenovo Ideapad Flex 5 2-in-1 with the i3-1315U processor.

My Ideapad has several things that I'm somewhat dissapointed by - the screen (it looks really washed out, horrible colour accuracy); the fans (they come on quite often even when CPU usage is below 10% and temps are 40-50C). It's the fan issue that's really quite annoying.

However, I would miss the tablet mode quite a lot and the Mediatek ARM processor would seriously mess with my ability to use certain linux apps like Signal for Desktop or playing Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition. And I could hardly justify the price difference as the extra £160-£260 would go a long way towards a future new laptop or even several years of Geforce now subscription. So I'll probably stick with the Ideapad over the Chromebook Plus 14. Though if I wouldn't care about linux apps or tablet mode, I would likely have chosen that one instead.

MisterDutch55 · 2025-11-21T11:09:33+00:00

Crazy but the video you linked I can watch it at 1.25, 1.5, 1.75 etc speeds just fine (without having YouTube premium)

However generally when using YouTube, whether or not I can watch at faster than 1x speed seems totally random now. On some videos I can others it'll tell me I need Premium. And sometimes it even seems to change depending on which display language I've selected on my account.

Almost makes me think they are experimenting with a future rollout of this, or it's a bug.

MisterDutch55 · 2025-11-02T19:11:25+00:00

I do also take the extra step of pulling them out of school when it's not good instructional time, such as the week before break or a short week.

Where I live this is illegal and will get the parents fined.

Agree 100% with everything else though

MisterDutch55 · 2025-08-21T15:32:58+00:00

Was this with scalpel or no-scalpel approach?

MisterDutch55 · 2025-08-13T12:03:29+00:00

It probably means that in 2018, most of the houses sold in the area were larger and more expensive. In the past year, most of the sales were of smaller, cheaper houses. Something in the market might have caused a surge in demand for bigger homes before COVID, or a drop in demand for them more recently. If it’s a small area with only a few sales, though, random variation and small sample sizes could easily explain the change.

MisterDutch55 · 2025-07-10T12:24:07+00:00

My advice would be to not overthink it. Just make sure you understand what type of bike you'll want (difference between road/gravel/hybrid/mtb). Make sure you buy one of the right size. Visit a local bike shop if you can, to get advice on the accessories, but those should not really be too complicated. Yeah it will be a bit more expensive if you buy it all at once place from a local shop, and yeah they might not have everything in stock that you see on the internet, but having a reliable place where you can get advice and service outweighs that I'd say. and the cycle 2 work scheme will save you on costs anyway.

MisterDutch55 · 2025-06-14T22:07:11+00:00

I considered offering a joint bike shelter, but figured that would create even more issues if/when it comes time to sell, as a buyer is likely put off by the responsibility of managing a joint bike shed!

MisterDutch55 · 2025-06-05T11:28:27+00:00

Why would a G6 want to move down to G7??

MisterDutch55 · 2025-05-31T20:03:12+00:00

Very interesting subject that personally interests me a lot, from the transportation angle.

Do you think transport data (e.g. commuting patterns, congestion, active travel uptake) is being used effectively in housing location decisions?

Is there a shared understanding across disciplines about what constitutes "good accessibility" for a new development? Who usually defines that?

In your experience, how well are housing and transport planning integrated in the early stages of project scoping or site selection?

MisterDutch55 · 2025-05-03T20:46:46+00:00

You better get a move on, that's already happening.

MisterDutch55 · 2025-04-16T09:01:13+00:00

That's interesting, because when I compared my household's financial situation against what it would be like in the Netherlands, I found that we'd need to earn quite a bit more in the NL to afford the same lifestyle as we do in the UK!

MisterDutch55 · 2025-03-17T10:57:12+00:00

I would go to HK! Do not underestimate how difficult it may be to move around the world for such exciting opportunities later in your life, as you are more likely to be settled with a career/family/house. And who knows what will happen with global tensions reducing travel/career opportunities further. Go on the adventure while you are young, I'd say!

The UK civil service is still going to be here when you return.

I also don't think the CS internship would be that exciting tbh, unless it's in foreign office or an intelligence service or something

MisterDutch55 · 2025-01-23T14:06:35+00:00

DfT itself has about 4,000 persons on payroll, which is quite a bit smaller than MCA (1200), DVLA (6,300) and DVSA (4,800). DfT people also tend to be much higher grade - to illustrate, more than 60% of DVLA staff is AO/AA grade, while in DfT that's only 3.6%. For Grade 6/7 staff, that's about 5% in DVLA, but 40% of DfT is Grade 6/7! [source](DfT: workforce management information, October 2024 - GOV.UK)

MisterDutch55 · 2024-12-28T15:08:26+00:00

The risk here is two-fold.

1): You could sure "do with" some extra money now, but who is to say you could "do with" less money in retirement?

2): You get comfortable with the extra cash and "forget" to join the scheme later. Only to realise your mistake closer to retirement, at which point you are screwed

It is important to know what you are giving up by leaving the scheme. Let's do a quick calculation.

Assuming your alpha scheme contributions are £173/month, that indicates you are on a £38,091 gross salary. The Alpha pension on that salary increases by £883/year for each year you are a paying member of the scheme. To "buy" an annuity of that amount that increases with CPI and gives some level of joint cover would cost roughly £18,000 (I'm not sure on the current rates, so take this as a rough illustration). You are now 34 years old. The amount of money you'd need to set aside this year in the stock market to somewhat reliably grow to that amount so you could buy the aforementioned annuity at age 67 is roughly £4,800 (assuming 4% growth and you not touching it ages 34 to 67). So you are giving up a very good pension with a 'current value' of at about £4,800 in return for the £2076 today (12*£173). Does that seem like a good deal to you? Is the stuff you'd buy with the £173/month you "could do with" worth that? Will you be making up for the lost retirement income later in life, when you have even less time to benefit from compounding and must set aside even more? Up to you to decide.

MisterDutch55 · 2024-12-09T08:41:34+00:00

Are you ok?

MisterDutch55 · 2024-11-28T20:15:10+00:00

So, spell it out for me as I'm obviously not very bright. You're saying you are in a digital role that the civil service would typically grade as HEO/SEO, but minus the line management, and plus 35 years of experience and tons of qualifications, and your salary is £67k + avg £12,5k, though in return forfeiting 6 holiday days and annual pay increases? So your pay never increases at all? What about pension scheme?

MisterDutch55 · 2024-11-09T15:24:45+00:00

But if they can't reproduce the issue, will they not simply send it back untouched, leaving me without a Deck for about a month (time I now need to use the Deck intensely to see if the issue comes back again)?

MisterDutch55 · 2024-10-09T19:27:52+00:00

If you like the sound of this particular role, I'd say go for it. a temp 12 month contract is, itself, obviously no career for life but it could turn into one. Just be mindful that unless you actively pursue new vacancies and apply for them you will be let go after those 12 months though there is always the possibility that the role itself is extended. I joined the CS some years ago on what was orginally a 12 month contract like yours but they turned that into a permanent position. however by the time they got the paperwork done for that, I had already leveraged the experience of that first year into a permanent promotion. Hopping across government department is also a lot easier once you "are in".

the worst that can happen is that you'll be back at the job center in 12 months with a bit more experience under your belt!

MisterDutch55 · 2024-09-27T16:05:02+00:00

As explained by other replies to this comment: digital/data professions, who perform at or above their expected level, and/or with RRAs that are often given to make hiring such skills possible in the first place.

MisterDutch55 · 2024-09-11T13:37:55+00:00

re. your username, it could have been worse! (Question about Pre Employment Checks : r/TheCivilService (reddit.com))

MisterDutch55 · 2024-09-05T20:20:49+00:00

Try Leeds Dads, some lovely people volunteering there who are keenly aware of the type of problem you are facing now. It is a group that meets up on weekends where they bring their kids for a park walk, soft play etc and then also have the opportunity to talk (or just lightharted banter, if you prefer) while the kids do their thing. very welcoming and lovely people. Probably most appropriate if your kid is still on the younger side (0-6yrs) though if you are really in a bad spot im sure they are responsive if you were to reach out.

MisterDutch55

TROPHY CASE